Wales prop let out of Italian jail

Rhys Thomas, the Wales prop, yesterday received a conditional discharge from a court in Treviso after spending Sunday in jail following a fracas outside a nightclub in the town. Gavin Henson, Thomas's team-mate during last month's defeat by South Africa at the Millennium Stadium, was yesterday summonsed to appear before magistrates in Cardiff next month to answer a charge of disorderly conduct following an alleged incident on a train last week.

Thomas was detained by police in Italy, along with the Newport Gwent Dragons centre Rhodri Gomer Davies, following the region's Heineken Cup victory over Treviso on Saturday, a match in which both players scored tries. The Dragons said they would be holding an internal disciplinary hearing after the pair had broken a team curfew to visit the nightclub. The pair spent a night behind bars before appearing in court yesterday. As well as being reprimanded they were ordered to pay costs and apologised in a joint statement.

Henson, who is out of action until the new year with a broken bone in his hand, will appear in court on January 14 along with three friends after the decision of the British Transport Police to prosecute them for alleged public order offences on a train from Reading to Cardiff following the Ospreys' EDF Energy Cup victory over Harlequins.

The Ospreys issued a statement yesterday saying that Henson would deny the charge. "We have spent a great deal of time over the past week speaking with Gavin and related parties surrounding the events that occurred on December 2," the statement ran.

"It is our judgment that Gavin's personal conduct was not such as to warrant disciplinary action by the Ospreys. Both Gavin and the Ospreys would like to offer their apologies to passengers who were disturbed. Gavin vehemently denies the charge and we fully support him in this matter."